And Now a Word from the White House
Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts
Slate Audio
4.6 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 14 October 2016
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in March, there was widespread speculation that opposing his confirmation hearings could have political costs for Republican senators. But seven months later, it’s not clear how much the GOP’s continued obstructionism will matter to voters next month. On this episode, we discuss Obama’s handling of the Supreme Court vacancy with White House Counsel Neil Eggleston and Brian Deese, Senior Adviser to the President.
We also take a closer look at Peña Rodriguez v. Colorado, an important case about jury bias that was argued at the Supreme Court this week. Jeffrey Fisher, who represented the petitioner, joins us to explain why blatantly racist comments uttered by a juror in a criminal trial should invalidate that trial’s verdict.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi and welcome to Amicus Slate's podcast about the U.S. Supreme Court. |
| 0:07.0 | I'm Dahlia Lethwick and I cover the court for Slate. |
| 0:12.4 | As of Friday, October 14th, it has been 212 days since President Obama stood in the Rose Garden |
| 0:19.6 | and nominated Judge Merrick Garland to the vacant seat on the court's bench. |
| 0:24.8 | Not only is this a record wait by mid-November, Garland will have waited twice as long for Senate action on the nomination as the person who held the prior record, Louis Brandeis, 100 years ago. |
| 0:36.8 | Now, if you're of a certain age, you may remember |
| 0:39.8 | the 1971 Brady Bunch episode in which the young Jan Brady laments having to live in the |
| 0:45.0 | shadow of her magnificent older sister. All I hear all day long at school is how great Marcia is |
| 0:51.7 | this or how wonderful Marcia did that. |
| 0:55.5 | Marsha, Marcia, Marcia! |
| 1:02.3 | Well, here on Amicus, we have our own weird version of Marsha, Marcia, Marcia, and it goes like this. |
| 1:03.6 | Merrick, Merrick, Merrick. |
| 1:08.6 | We talk about him all the time, or at least about the seat that he continues to not occupy or even get a vote for at the Scotus Bench. |
| 1:12.2 | We've spoken to court watchers, we've spoken to academics, we've spoken to a sitting |
| 1:16.4 | U.S. senator, but never before have we been able to bring you the perspective of the White |
| 1:20.8 | House itself. We are so lucky today to be able to hear from two people who've been working |
| 1:25.3 | very closely with President Obama on the Garland nomination. |
| 1:29.2 | A little later in the show, we'll return to the Supreme Court courtroom for a blow-by-blow of arguments in an important case that had to do with jury bias that was argued just this past week. |
| 1:39.9 | But first, we are delighted to welcome to the show two representatives from the White House, Brian Dees, who is a senior advisor to the president, and Neil Eggleston, who serves as White House counsel. |
| 1:51.2 | Brian and Neil, it is such an honor to have you on amicus. |
| 1:54.6 | Great to be here. Thanks, Talia. Thank you. |
| 1:56.7 | Brian, maybe you'd start us off. It feels as though Merrick Garland has really, despite my |
... |
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